TACK FOR EDUCATION

Monday

At one end of the region, Sarasota County school officials toasted and celebrated last week.

They just won an election and secured an estimated $42 million annually -- money for teachers, a beefed-up arts program and a longer school day.

In neighboring Manatee County, school officials are recovering from a fiscal disaster, one of the worst faced by school districts in the state. Money is tight, and there are new problems that need solutions, like overcrowded schools.

But even as Manatee officials watched the Sarasota schools tax renewal's sweeping victory -- the 1-mill tax question won easily with 77 percent of the vote in Tuesday's election -- they said they have no plans to pursue a tax for their own district.

"I would get burned at the stake if I even suggested that," said Manatee School Board chair Julie Aranibar. "Nobody will give you a second loan when you default on the first one.

"Nobody rewards you for bad behavior. Sarasota, kudos to them. ... If anything, it's an example for what the Manatee School Board and administration should be doing now, and that's where we're headed."

Earning the trust

In 2009, the state allowed school districts to levy a "critical needs tax" for a year to address declining tax revenues.

But after one year, the districts had to get voter approval to continue to levy it.

Manatee voters rejected the measure.

Now, the district's fiscal problems are not distant enough to ask voters again to approve a new education tax, Manatee officials say.

The problems include overspending $38 million in the five years before superintendent Rick Mills took over. For five consecutive years, the district failed to balance its budget.

All that would likely haunt any tax proposal at the ballot box, officials have said.

"The priority for Manatee right now is to get its house in order," Aranibar said. "We have our work cut out for us. We have to earn the trust back."

"We have no time for politics or gimmicks. The future of the education of children is the No. 1 priority right now," she said.

This spring, school officials will craft a strategic plan, looking ahead five to 10 years and analyzing their needs and how will they pay for it, said Mills, who was hired in March 2013.

Part of that discussion will include looking at revenue sources, such as a tax increase or asking voters to extend a sales tax that is on the books until 2017.

"The board, they feel before we address any kind of millage increase in Manatee County, we need to be good fiscal stewards," Mills said, pointing to a projected $8.1 million surplus this fiscal year as moving in the right direction. "There's been a lot of mistrust in the district among finances. It's my goal to be transparent, candid and direct -- no surprises -- to restore that trust."

But in the moment, it is not easy to see the school district next door -- one with about 4,000 fewer students than Manatee -- get extra money to spend on education, some said.

"It's frustrating, but we'll get through it," Manatee board member Robert Gause said.

A funding advantage

Sarasota County's enrollment is about 42,000 students, so the $42 million referendum translates to about $1,000 more per student, as Gause sees it.

"It's a huge funding advantage," he said.

The referendum pays for campus security monitors while Manatee dips into its general fund to pay for school resource officers, Gause said.

In Manatee, the arts program still exists but the district does not have as much equipment.

Sarasota County teachers were the second highest paid in the state, behind only to Miami-Dade County teachers during the 2012-13 year. They were paid $54,576 annually on average, according to the Florida Department of Education.

Manatee topped No. 17 on the state's list of highest-paid teachers, with educators' yearly salaries at $45,745, on average.

"If you got a really great teacher, they can pay that teacher more than we can," Gause said. "They have the money."

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